


Where are your parents?

by C4pricornC4ts



Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: 1940s, Gen, Historical Inaccuracy, Hurt/Comfort, Not Beta Read, Philza owns a bookstore, Wilbur and Techno are teenagers, no ships, they runaways
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-28
Updated: 2020-10-14
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:47:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 14,985
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25563079
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/C4pricornC4ts/pseuds/C4pricornC4ts
Summary: He nudges the fence door to the side and slips into their makeshift home. He can’t help but be concerned when he sees Tommy already asleep curled under his thin blanket. The younger always waits for at least one of his brothers to make it back. He ran his hands through his hair and set down the basket before heading over to check on Tommy. There’s a moment where the brunette hesitates to wake him up. with all that’s happened to the boy he only looks at peace when he sleeps.-----Wilbur, Techno, and Tommy decide to run away. Tommy is an optimist, Techno likes to disappear for days at a time and Wilbur is just trying to keep his makeshift family together.Philza notices a struggling teenager and tries his best.
Comments: 159
Kudos: 1340





	1. Are you okay?

**Author's Note:**

> I love these four with my whole heart.

Wilbur crouches lower behind the forest shrubs and holds his breath waiting for the rabbit to come close enough to the trap. The sun was beginning to set and he was having a hard time dealing with his frustration for having such a pathetic amount of food to bring back to his brothers. 

Techno would understand that with winter approaching the food was more scarce but Tommy was only ten, and the last thing the brunette or his twin wanted was to have their little brother be anxious about the lack of food. They’d just have to work harder in town. 

The animals were hiding quickly, winter was going to be cold this year. Wilbur wasn’t sure they were prepared for that. 

For starters, they’re not really brothers by blood, but runaways living in an abandoned shelter right outside a town. Techno and Wilbur were teenagers and had realized their chance of finding a family was with each other. After talking it over, they decided to run from the orphanage a few months ago, and Tommy had stupidly run after them. 

Whether the blond boy regrets his choice to chase his two brother figures into uncertainty or not is up to him, and this winter might decide it. 

Wilbur had no regrets. He gathered his basket of herbs and the fish from earlier. The trees were golden and he knew his brothers would be back from their respective jobs soon.   
\--------------  
He nudges the fence door to the side and slips into their makeshift home. He can’t help but be concerned when he sees Tommy already asleep curled under his thin blanket. The younger always waits for at least one of his brothers to make it back. He ran his hands through his hair and set down the basket before heading over to check on Tommy. There’s a moment where the brunette hesitates to wake him up. with all that’s happened to the boy he only looks at peace when he sleeps. 

There’s bags under his blue eyes, there's scrapes on his arms and face from being pushed around in the streets. Techno always gets so angry when Tommy comes home hurt, but there's not much they could do besides steal from the men who do. Wilbur brushes his shoulder and Tommy flinches awake. 

“Wilbur? Why are you waking me up?” he mumbles while rubbing his eyes. 

“Tommy, is your shoulder okay?” Wilbur holds his arm away gently and pushes his sleeve down to reveal several small bruises, as if someone had grabbed him. “What happened?” He searches the sleepy boy’s face for any kind of answer. 

“Just another person who was tired of seeing street boys. It’s nothing really. It’s fine Wilbur.”  
He’s a little more awake now. 

The older one takes a deep breath trying to choose his words very carefully. “No it’s not fine, I should be able to protect you from those people. Letting you get hurt should never be okay.” Honestly, what he decides next has been a long time coming. “I’ll go with you tomorrow morning, see if anyone messes with you then, yeah?” He smiles and hopes he looks reassuring.

“Wilbur, it's okay really-” He’s cut off by the sound of the door moving. Both boys turn to see Techno come inside. 

He takes off his work clothes, and puts away his earnings for today.   
“Techno! You’re back.” Tommy is sitting up now, tiredness forgotten and replaced with excitement. “How was the farm?” 

Techno glances to Wilbur to answer for him, He’s always tired after he gets back from one of his trips. Wilbur hunts and gathers, Tommy goes into the town and asks for money, and Techno…

Well, Techno takes any job he can find. He switches between taking letters faraway, to helping on the larger farms. Wilbur always makes him promise he’ll be home before it's been a week. Or else he’d assume the worst. 

“Let him go get clean before you bother him Toms.” Wilbur whispers as Techno shrugs off his red coat and leaves for the river. 

Tommy nods, and settles on the wood floor. Wilbur shrugs off his coat and lays down next to Tommy, blocking the blond from view of the door. He shivers and curls up tighter to try to block it out. He wants to stay up and wait for Techno, but he knows he needs to sleep if he's gonna be in town pickpocketing while Tommy distracts people. 

Tommy is out cold once again and Wilbur is facing him trying to keep warm when Techno finally joins their makeshift bedroom corner. Which, with it being a few blankets and pillows, looks more like a nest. 

Knowing both of his brothers were here, and safe, Wilbur finally sleeps.   
\-----------

The sun starts to shine through the cracks and creates golden rays in their house. They shine right across Wilburs face and the discomfort wakes him up. He looks to his right to see Tommy against the wall, his arms hugging his knees and looking right back at Wilbur. 

The sun always made Tommy’s hair look so golden, seeing it makes Wilbur feel selfish for not turning Tommy back into the orphanage. He knew someone would’ve adopted him, kept him safer than the brunette ever could. 

“We have to go to the part of town with the market today, I went to the park yesterday.” Tommy tells Wilbur as he gets up to find his day clothes. 

“I like working there better, you pull off a great lost child ruse. Plus all the crowds make this much easier.’ Wilbur smiles and gets himself dressed. Techno is still sound asleep, recovering from being away so they leave without him. With Tommy dressed in his overalls with a soft white striped shirt underneath, making him look younger than he already is and Wilbur lacing up his boots, they walk towards town. 

Tommy wants to lead the way, as he’s used to it far more than Wilbur who avoids going into town at all costs. But Wilbur was coming today to make sure Tommy didn’t get hurt. 

“Stay close to me yeah? I don’t want you to lose me by walking too far ahead.” Wilbur knows he sounds ridiculous but seeing that bruise last night made WIlbur very anxious about leaving Tommy alone for a few days. Once someone knows they won’t fight back, it can turn into a regular thing. 

They all know that fact from experience.

They arrive and head straight to an alleyway by the market. Since it's still early, the sun hasn’t made it warm enough for many people to be here. Wilbur and Tommy decide to use the morning to look around. Tommy goes straight to his friend Tubbo’s booth, where they play around with his family’s farm animals they bring to sell. 

Seeing how happy Tommy is to see someone his age, to act his age, is another weight to the guilt Wilbur feels for keeping Tommy with him. There've been so many hard nights where Wilbur has told Tommy he could go back to the orphanage, that he could say Wilbur and Techno forced him to leave and he finally made his way back. He wanted Tommy to know they would understand if he wanted to at least try for a good life. 

Tommy being the optimist he is, always said things would get better. That they could get an apartment together, and he could go to school with Tubbo sometime. Wilbur and Techno would exchange a small uncertain look before agreeing with Tommy. Till Tommy’s perfect plan fell into place however, they needed to get their story straight. Wilbur walks over to greet Tubbo’s mother while their boys play. 

“Hello Mrs. Smith, how’s the farm been doing this winter?” He tilted his head, and smiled knowing how much it charmed people when his curls bounced. He really needed the farmer to like him for Tommy’s sake. Didn’t need her finding out that Tommy didn’t just live on the other side of town. 

“Oh it's been well, Tubbo complains about the cold so much it's driving me up the wall however” She laughs as she tugs on her gloves before glancing back at him. “I wish he’d be like your brother, never a complaint out of him when he’s over.” 

That comment stings him, he knows May didn’t mean to. She doesn’t know that he doesn’t have anything to complain about when Tubbo invites him to stay at their farm. It feels like she’s saying he doesn’t do enough when he knows that’s not what she meant. 

He always feels like he’s not doing enough. 

“Well, I’m sure he’ll get used to it soon. You know how boys are.” Wilbur forces a small laugh. 

He hears Tommy tell his friend he’ll be back soon, that he and his brother had some shopping to do. 

“Wilbur can we please go look around now? It’s getting crowded, we need to see everything before it's gone!” He tugs on Wilburs shirt gently and starts pulling him away from his conversation. 

“I’m sure we’ll see you soon Mrs. Smith, perhaps I'll bring Tommy back here this afternoon, our Mother wanted him to pick out some warmer items.” He resists Tommy pulling at his shirt long enough to hear her respond,

“See you both later then. I’ll tell Tubbo.” She waves them off.

“You’re being so pushy, what's got you so excited?” He asks the blonde as they walk down the rows. 

“I want to get the y’know- stealing stuff over with.” Tommy whispers. 

“Alright then, see that lady in the blue dress? Go tell her you’re lost. Sell it too okay? Get her to set down her purse and I'll take her wallet and go stash it.” Tommy nods and Wilbur separates from him. 

They both amble for a few minutes, making sure no one in the area would think they were together. Tommy catches his eye and Wilbur gives him the signal to start. 

He keeps feigning interest in the different satchels and bags the booth in front of him had to display, while watching Tommy pretend to sob. 

Wilbur doesn’t know what he said, but as soon as she sets the bag down and kneels in front of the small boy, he’s shuffling through her purse for a wallet. He feels something leather and grabs it before dashing to the alleyway from earlier. 

This would’ve been the end of it, he would have pocketed it and went to another part of the market and waited for Tommy to pretend to recognize him and thank the kind woman for bringing him back safe (and for the money). 

Little did the boys know, a man had been watching Tommy for a few weeks now. He had been growing concerned with how he’d seen the small boy run off to the woods when he was closing his bookstore. A bookstore on the street Tommy frequented for selling newspapers or whatever he could find. 

So when Wilbur hears a stranger shout and start to run towards him, he does what any animal would do when chased. 

He started running down the alleyways trying to throw the stranger off his tail, but the man was insistent on catching the 16 year old. He makes a right turn where he should’ve made a left and ends up backed against a brick wall. Breathing heavily, Wilbur can’t climb the brick wall, so he decides to face the man and prepare to apologize and give the wallet back. 

The man looks about in his 30s and is blonde like Tommy. He pants and puts his hands up placatingly. “Hey uh, I’ve just- I own a bookstore and your boy, he sits in front of it a lot. Alone might I add, and now I see him helping you steal a wallet-” He takes a step forward. 

Wilbur takes a step back, shaken from all the chaos. “W-what about it.” He glares, frustrated to have been cornered like this. By a bookstore owner no less.

“Where are your parents? He runs off towards the goddamn woods every night, unless I'm mistaken there’s nothing out there. And now I see him stealing with some teenager… ” The older man sounds like he's trying to put together the pieces as he says it.

“Look- I- he doesn’t have any. He has two older brothers though, and we manage.” He spits defensively. 

“Clearly not if you have to steal” The man tries to keep calm as he says it, Wilbur appreciates it as he’s scared enough for the both of them right now. 

“Can I just go back please? I don’t like leaving him out there alone. I’ll give the lady back her wallet it’s fine just please-” Wilbur was stupid to tell the stranger as much as he did, but there’s no taking it back now. 

“That’d be nice of you, but I have a question for you,” Wilbur stands up straighter, curious and really antsy to stop being in a dirty alley. The man continues. 

“Are you okay?”


	2. Yeah, deal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I j-just want my brother back, if you don’t have him then why didn’t he come back for m-me?” he leans back and tries to focus on Phil’s hand. He just feels very defeated right now, and ten year olds hate losing. 
> 
> Except Tubbo, Tubbo always let him win. He wishes he just crawled in his friend’s window instead of walking down all those streets, but he didn’t.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tw // Fairly non descriptive violence

Tommy smiles as discreetly as he can when the woman doesn’t even notice Wilbur dash off with her wallet. He hopes there was at least some money in there. He’d really like some warmer blankets. 

He stops smiling and gets scared for real when the bookstore owner starts running after his older brother. The boy can’t look for long, he still has to keep up his lost child act. He’s not sure if Wilbur can even come back to the market, now that their plan was compromised. 

He needs to change his story, get the woman to take him towards Tubbo’s family and have them be with him till Wilbur returns, or if his brother can’t he’ll go back and tell Techno. 

“Could we look around?” He mumbles and looks up at her with teary eyes. 

“Alright, which way should we start?” She picks up her purse while Tommy pauses to think which way would lead them back to his friend. 

Pretending to be lost now isn’t very difficult. He truly doesn’t know where Wilbur is anymore. He hopes Tubbo is still with his parents, he really doesn’t like having to lie. He doesn’t unless his brothers tell him to. 

He trusts Techno and Wilbur, he knows that when they say to lie it's to keep them safe. The blonde takes his thumb out of his mouth and let’s go of the naive woman’s hand. He smiles when he sees Tubbo’s mother, May, as she insists he calls her. He starts running towards her, before turning back to explain to the other woman. 

“This is my friend's mom, she’ll keep me with her. At least till my brother comes by again.” He explains quickly, his anxiety about Wilbur was getting worse and he really just wanted to be with someone he knows. 

And besides, Tubbo’s mom is nice to him. Don’t get the ten year old wrong his brothers love him too, but they’re not really the same as May. He never says anything about it to them, because the one time he mentioned how much he liked May he could tell Wilbur was very hurt. 

The woman walks him over to May. They talk and he hears May reassure her they’ll watch Tommy and take him home if they have to. 

He finds Tubbo sitting behind a stack of hay bales, making baskets out of reeds. Tubbo was always building something, whether it was for Tommy to sell or just for something to do. Baskets were the easy for Tommy to make so he sits next to him and starts one himself. 

“Wilbur ran away,” Tommy whispers to his friend. Tubbo’s the only person to know Tommy’s an orphan. He trusts his friend not to turn him in, though his brothers would definitely be upset with him for telling anyone. He just can’t help it, his friend trusts him, he couldn’t just lie. “Someone was chasing him.” 

“Oh, that- that doesn’t sound very good Toms.” The boy sets down his project and turns himself to face Tommy. Tommy doesn’t make eye contact. “What happened, who was chasing him?” 

“Someone caught him stealing. He just took off, I don’t really know what to do so I came here.” He focuses on weaving the reeds and keeping himself calm. He always thought his brothers were untouchable, that their plans could never go wrong. 

“Well I think you ought to look around town for him. If you’re both lost maybe you’ll just find each other right?” He smiles. Proud of his (not-so-good) good plan. 

“I guess I have to… It's almost time for dinner anyways, I don’t want him to go home alone.” He knows it’s one of those days where Wilbur is extra nervous about Tommy. He doesn’t want him to be worried long. Matter of fact, Tommy would rather stop being worried about his older brother as well. 

“I’ll see you later Tommy, and if you don’t find him you can always just climb through my window again, I’ll leave it unlocked.” The brunette pats his shoulder and gently takes the basket from him. 

Tommy runs off, trying to get away before Tubbo’s mother can call him back. He walks down the other lines of tents, and still doesn’t see his brother anywhere. He finally makes his way down one of the main streets. 

“Wilbur?” He’s at the point where he’s feeling pretty frantic. So he just starts yelling his name as he runs down the brick roads. 

“Wilbur! It’s Tommy where are you?” He keeps running until someone grabs him by the overalls and pushes him to the ground very aggressively. He looks at the man with his wide blue eyes and realizes it's the same man from yesterday. Of course this is the one person he’d run into. 

“Yellin' in the streets? Like a damn newsboy. Someone ought to beat some manners into you.” He kicks hard him in the side. Tommy tries to scramble back but it just earns him another kick. 

“I-I’m sorry!” The man is about to push him down again when he turns around suddenly. Tommy leans against the store wall and sees why. 

It’s the same man who chased his brother earlier. Great, Tommy almost starts sobbing, now he’s gonna get hit again for helping Wilbur steal. He curls up and watches the bookstore owner start yelling at the man who hurt the child. 

He watched them intently, he should’ve ran while they were distracted but his ribs really hurt, and he felt dizzy from colliding with the ground. He wasn’t so sure he could run. 

Plus, if the blonde man might take him wherever he took Wilbur if he waits. The older men take so long Tommy’s eyes start to flutter shut. 

“Hey, It’s okay. Or well, it will be I suppose.” The man rambles awkwardly while Tommy struggles to focus on his face. He sees the adult panic at the lack of response, but Tommy feels tired and just lets his head loll. “I’m Phil, can you walk?” 

“Phil... “ Tommy mumbles while the man, Phil, tries to help him stand. “M’ Tommy.” He smiles at Phil before the pain of trying to hold himself up hits and he slumps into Phil's arms. 

Phil swears under his breath and picks up the boy. He may be ten but he's still pretty small, which right now Phil is very grateful for. He takes him into his store and up the stairs to his apartment above. He sets Tommy down on the couch and props him up slightly with a throw pillow before going to find him a glass of water. 

\----------

Tommy wakes up on the couch an hour later. Not quite sure where he is but really he’s had a long day and is too tired to really worry about it. 

Phil notices him stir and puts his book down on his chair. “Tommy, it’s Phil, do you remember what happened earlier?” He has his hand on Tommy’s arm rubbing small circles trying to keep him awake. “Drink some water, you seem pretty out of it.” He hands a plastic cup to the boy and helps him take a few sips. 

“I remember you yelling at the man who hit me. I thought you were gonna yell at me next.” He scrunches his nose in a grimace when he remembers how hard he was kicked. “I saw you run after my brother earlier, thought maybe if-if I stayed you’d take me to him.” He starts crying. It’s been a really bad day and to make it worse he still hasn’t found Wilbur. 

Phil keeps rubbing circles with his thumb, trying to comfort the child. “I’m sorry I scared you Tommy, I wasn’t going to yell at you. I was mad at that man for hurting you.” He tried to explain but it felt like the boy was just inconsolable. 

Tommy starts sobbing now, Ignoring how much pain his torso is in when he hiccups. All he wanted was his brother back, not to get attacked and wake up in someone’s apartment. He’s scared and in pain and all he wants is to be in that ugly shack with Techno and Wilbur. 

“I j-just want my brother back, if you don’t have him then why didn’t he come back for m-me?” he leans back and tries to focus on Phil’s hand. He just feels very defeated right now, and ten year olds hate losing. 

Except Tubbo, Tubbo always let him win. He wishes he just crawled in his friend’s window instead of walking down all those streets, but he didn’t. 

Instead he calms down enough to at least try to sound apologetic about his next request. “It’s getting dark, they’ll be scared if i’m not back could you just let me go home?” 

Phil sighs, he’s glad Tommy stopped crying but he really doesn’t want to make him start again. “Tommy, I can’t just let you walk home, you just woke up and it's getting dark.” 

“J-Just come with me, please? You don’t have to go all the way just to the woods. I need to be with them, they're gonna be worried!” 

Tommy uses his best puppy eyes, and Phil can’t help but notice they are blue like his. He could definitely pass as his kid, maybe no one would say anything if he carried him down the street. It’s not like the woods are very far. 

“Alright, but I’m carrying you, and I need to talk to one of your brothers about what happened before I leave, does that sound like a deal to you kid?”

“Yeah, deal.” He smiles up at the man. 

Wilbur was gonna kill him.


	3. Where we always will be

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Because I know you are doing everything you can for them. You have to let others help you too.” With that, Philza steps back and prepares to go home.
> 
> Wilbur is left without words, Phil’s statement fills his lungs with water. He knew he’d been drowning for a while, but to hear someone say it felt so much worse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> alcohol and description of injury warning !!
> 
> it's a little angsty but I promise things get happier for the boys <3

Wilbur has been searching everywhere for Tommy, He went down every street, went in the library and was currently knocking on Tubbo’s door. He’s hoping that the kid was smart and just stayed with people he knew. 

His mother opens it, Wilbur fiddles with his hat nervously. “Sorry to bother, I was wondering if Tommy ended up with you all. I lost him earlier and this is the last place I could think of.” 

“Mary brought him over to me earlier, explained that he had lost you in the crowd. He ran off again when I was busy,” she pauses to shout over her shoulder. “Toby dear? Is Tommy with you?” 

They hear a muffled “no” and she turns back to Wilbur with a pitying look. “I’m sorry Wilbur, I hope you find him. Toby said he left to find you…” He trails off, holding the door with one hand.

“That’s alright, I’ll see if he made it home since I’ve been out. Thank you Mrs. Smith.”   
The air was cold enough that Wilbur’s breath was visible when he spoke. If Tommy was alone out here in the cold he’d be very mad at himself. 

Though, he supposes it’s all that strangers fault. He could’ve just pocketed the money, left the wallet in the alley and been on his way with Tommy by his side. He hated it when people acted like he couldn’t take care of his brothers. Did they think he wanted to steal? Everything he does is for Techno and Tommy, and yet people still think he’s not enough. 

His pity party is interrupted by seeing a man carrying a kid into the woods. Wilbur gets closer to investigate. “And then he-” he hears a small voice, not just any voice but definitely Tommy’s voice. Now to go see why the hell the man who separated them was the one carrying his kid. 

“What the hell?” Wilbur steps in front of them, making Tommy stop his story. Wilbur knows he should be happy but right now he just sees red. “Why do you have my goddamn brother? What’d you do to him? Put him down.” 

He knows he probably seems pretty disoriented but there’s a lot going on here, he isn’t quite sure what he wants to demand first.

“I saw someone hurting him in the alley, he passed out. I kept him till he woke up then we agreed I’d carry him back if I could talk to his brothers about this.” Wilbur can’t take the guilt anymore. He steps forward and grabs the boy from Phil.

Hearing Tommy whimper at being moved so suddenly makes the anger inside Wilbur leave his body almost instantly. What the hell happened to him? What would’ve happened if no one had stepped in? He feels sick thinking about it and holds the boy even closer to him. He turns to the side and keeps hugging the boy, as if protecting him from Phil. 

“Alright, I can respect that. Talk. Then don’t come back here again.” He bites. 

“Wilbur, please be nice, he saved me.” Tommy murmurs, Wilbur could tell he was just as tired as he was. With how abnormally hard it was to keep supporting Tommy’s weight, he realizes he must be getting tired too. “He’s good Wil, I’m fine. Please stop.” 

Techno must have heard the commotion because the brunette approached them almost silently. Wilbur wasn’t quite sure where his brother learned to tread that carefully through a place covered with dead brown leaves everywhere. Especially at night. 

The allusive sibling puts a hand on Tommy’s shoulder and shares a look with Wilbur, before slowly tilting his head at Phil. “What’s going on here?” He says very evenly. 

“It’s fine, Tommy was hurt and Phil brought him back.” Tommy’s shaking pretty badly from the November air. Wilbur tilts his head up to check him for injury when he notices how pale the boy is. He’s definitely going to be sick. 

Wilbur only has himself to blame. 

“Techno, please take him inside and take care of him, he isn’t doing well.” He orders and Techno picks up the boy, both of them look pained now. It reminds him how far Techno had come in the months on their own.

Techno was very smart, he’d always be studying in their shared room. Wilbur had always wanted to leave the orphanage, Techno always convinced him to stay. Saying he’d get into a good school, and they could start a good life after he was done. 

The younger brother was devastated when the teachers laughed in his face for wanting to go to college. It was already so difficult for average families to get a child in. No matter your grades, what mattered more to places like that was status and money. Both things Techno would never have. 

After learning this, Techno dropped school. He started disappearing from the orphanage during the night. Only to come back through their window with scrapes all over his body, and powder to hide the bruises.   
Wilbur always stayed up and waited for him. Some nights he’d pace the small room and worry about every possible bad situation that could happen to Techno while out doing whatever dangerous activity he did every night. 

A few times he was prepared to go looking for the other when he saw the sun start to rise and Techno hadn’t climbed through their window, but Techno always came back. 

This went on for weeks, till early September. Wilbur was up reading when Techno stumbled through the window. He looked so pale that Wilbur thought he was going to collapse. He runs over to help the stumbling boy sit down on the bed. 

The smell of alcohol was making Wilbur’s eyes water. “Techno where the hell have you been? I tried to ignore it but I can’t anymore. If you’re gonna be drinking and being so damn reckless I need an answer.” 

He gets no response, just an empty look that makes Wilbur feel so helpless. “What about Tommy? What’s he going to say when you have too bad a headache to even speak to him tomorrow? Can’t you see you’re losing yourself more everytime you go out there?” Wilbur pleads with the boy.

“Tell him to go to hell.” Techno mumbles before turning away from his brother and closing his eyes. 

“You don’t mean that.” Wilbur whispers and brushes his hand across his wet face. This was going too far. Nothing was ever going to get better until they did something themselves. 

Techno apologized in the morning, and if he hugged Tommy a little longer than usual that afternoon, the younger boy was none the wiser. 

They ran away that weekend. None of them looked back. 

Techno didn’t even look back now, just listened to Wilbur and removed Tommy from the situation. Wilbur was grateful Techno knew when to ask questions versus when to act first. 

He crosses his arms and faces Phil once again. “Who?” He asked the adult. 

“Some business man, you know how the people from the bigger cities are. I don’t think he’s going to try to hurt him again but-” He’s cut off by Wilbur. 

“This was ‘again’, he’s already come home hurt. I don’t know what to do anymore, I can’t just keep him in the woods with me, we need the money. Besides, he loves talking to all the people even if many of them are rude.” He knows he’s ranting but no one’s been listening to his worries but him. “What happens next time that happens? What happens next time and you’re not the one to help him?” His voice rises with a sob at the end. He leans against a tree and refuses to look at Phil. 

“What if he stays on my street? I’ll watch him when you can’t.” The blonde offers.

“You shouldn’t have to babysit an orphan. I can’t drag other people down with us. Besides, I can’t just- make him stay in the same part of town forever.” Wilbur tries to keep his voice down so that Techno and Tommy don’t get worried. 

“Talk to him about it, at least let him know that if he doesn’t feel safe he can sell newspapers in front of my store. You’re not dragging me into anything Wilbur, I want to help you.”

“Why?” 

“Because I know you are doing everything you can for them. You have to let others help you too.” With that, Philza steps back and prepares to go home.

Wilbur is left without words, Phil’s statement fills his lungs with water. He knew he’d been drowning for a while, but to hear someone say it felt so much worse. 

He goes back to the fence and weakly pushes it open. Stumbling inside, he splashes his face and strips to his boxers and undershirt before going to his spot in the corner. Techno’s putting a bowl away, probably what Tommy ate out of before crashing again. 

He doesn’t lie down, afraid that once he closes his eyes Tommy will be lost in that alleyway again. 

Instead he brings his knees to his chest and buries his head in them. A hand in the sleeping boys hair as he starts choking out sobs. Partly sobbing in relief, partly out of guilt. 

“He’s gonna be okay Wil, I checked him over.” Techno sits on his side not occupied by the injured boy. “His ribs are really bruised up, but I don’t think anything was broken.” 

“Well that’s something.” Wilbur whispers. “Phil, he told me he’d watch Tommy. I told him that wasn’t necessary but that i’d make sure Tommy knew he would be safe there.” 

“That sounds like good news, why do you sound so spiteful?” 

“Because people can’t just come in here and basically tell me I need help!” He whispers angrily. 

“Maybe we do, it’s nothing invasive. He just wants Tommy to feel safe when we can’t be there.” 

“Who kept you safe, all those nights when you left me for the town?” 

Techno’s lips form a thin line and he closes his eyes for a moment. “You did, Wil. I knew no matter what happened you’d have my back. Now let someone help you do the same for Toms.”

“Techno, he thinks we’re enough, he trusts us to protect him. I tell him what Phil said and he’ll realize we’re not what's best for him. That this situation isn’t something we should have ever brought him into.” Wilbur feels so defeated, Techno looks at him with a sad expression. 

“You’re a kid too Wilbur. I think you forget that. We’re so used to only relying on each other, Tommy isn’t. Do this for him, let go of your pride and tell him what Phil offered. Kid needs to have as many people in his corner as possible.” 

“He should only need us! I should be enough. Why aren’t I?” He’s crying again. 

“You’re doing what you can Wil, so am I, but these are the cards we’ve been dealt and a ten year old is gonna need more than a 15 and 16 year old. Try to understand that okay?” With that Techno turns off the lantern and lies down. 

The world was always colder when he was alone. The darkness made the November air settle on his skin and never let go. He doesn’t lie down. He straightens his legs in front of him and looks up at the ceiling. 

Tommy starts whimpering in his sleep, then he's thrashing around. Wilbur can only stare. He doesn’t have the energy to do much else, he wasn’t quite sure if he was supposed to wake Tommy up.

The young boy wakes himself up eventually, breathing heavily. “W-wilbur? Techno?” He cries out into the darkness. 

“We’re right here, where we always are.” Tommy wraps his arms around him and Wilbur buries his nose in his golden hair. 

“Where we always will be.”


	4. Not to me, not if it's you.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Well, I wanted to go with you today!” He pouts slightly and looks up at Wilbur. “Please? I’m all better and really, really bored.” 
> 
> Wilbur sighs defeatedly, Tommy smiles wider knowing that’s definitely a yes. “All better huh, no headache, your sides are okay? All over night?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Filler chapter today, to make up for it the next chapter will be out more quickly. <3

After five days of only being let out as far as the river, Tommy felt a lot better. This also meant he had a lot more energy. So of course he’s up before Wilbur and Techno and already dressed for the winter day. 

Wilbur can’t tell him no to go out and gather with him now, can he? Not if he’s already prepared to leave right? 

Techno gets up next and grabs the box of cereal from Tommy. They sit on the floor and eat their breakfasts together. 

“You seem brighter today, feeling better?” 

He stops shoving cheerios in his mouth long enough to answer. “Mostly yeah!” 

“Mostly? What’s still bothering you?” 

“My sides kinda hurt still but don’t tell Wilbur, he won’t ever let me go out if he knew.” He puts his bowl back on the worn shelf, trying to hide his wince at having to reach up. 

“Toms don’t get your hopes up, you really scared him. I'd be surprised if he let you back into town so soon.” Techno warns him. 

“Oh I know, but he was gonna check the traps today. Thought maybe he’d let me join him.” 

“You must be really bored of sleeping all the time if you want to go out and forage.” The older teases. 

Tommy nods, “I am Techno, I really am.” 

Techno laughs and picks up a basket of their dirty clothes and leaves for the river. Tommy quite liked getting to hit the clothes against rocks and shake the dirt loose into the river. So he was slightly disappointed to not be chasing after his brother to help. Today however, he needed to be here when Wilbur was up. Otherwise the boy would leave without him. 

Wilbur wasn’t one for sleeping in, but since Tommy had been doing nothing but sleeping he started liking sleep more. Tommy didn’t mind, it meant there was someone there to help him through all the headaches that followed colliding with asphalt. 

He’s using some of the well water to brush his teeth when Wilbur reaches for an apple on the top shelf. The woman’s wallet had a decent amount of money, and though Tommy felt bad about it, it was always nice to have their small cabinet full. 

Wilbur told him it was okay to feel a little bad about stealing, he said it meant he was a good kid. Techno told him that sometimes you have to be a little mean to get by. 

“Where’s Techno?” He yawns and leans against one of the weak walls. 

“Washing clothes.” Tommy tries to sound as chirpy as possible, hoping it would help convince Wilbur he felt better. 

“And you’re not with him?” He laughs. His brother sounds sad even when he laughs. The child tries to not blame himself because Wilbur hates it when he does that. He knows they don’t have the best situation going on, but really the orphanage was not much better. It felt to Tommy like trading a bed for freedom. 

“Well, I wanted to go with you today!” He pouts slightly and looks up at Wilbur. “Please? I’m all better and really, really bored.” 

Wilbur sighs defeatedly, Tommy smiles wider knowing that’s definitely a yes. “All better huh, no headache, your sides are okay? All over night?” 

Tommy dodges the questions. “I’m well enough to go hunt with you today!” 

“You can if you don’t do anything wild okay? No chasing around small animals and you stay with me.” He stares at Tommy very seriously waiting for an answer. 

“Deal.” Tommy gets up and grabs a basket before running out the door. 

Wilbur joins him moments later carrying a spear. “I’ll go check the traps, you go out and find dandelions and basil. I’m gonna cook whatever's in these traps tonight.” 

Tommy nods and starts to look around for herbs. The ground was icy and the clouds were gray. It looked like snow would fall any second. The trees gave them good cover so if the snow was light so Tommy wasn’t worried.

Tommy doesn’t bother looking too hard for herbs. He knows Wilbur just wanted him to have something to do. The ground was mostly dead from the cold. Though he did pick up every bright yellow dandelion he found. He lets the basket slide up his arm and rubs his hands together. 

He goes deeper into the woods where he knew Wilbur would be checking one of their traps. Once he’s close enough he’s more careful where he steps. He sees Wilbur, with his glasses on and face focused as he re-ties a trap. Tommy goes to put the rabbit in his basket. After he moves his dandelions aside.

“Wilbur, it’s kinda hard to find plants in the winter when everything’s a little y'know- dead.” Wilbur makes a noise to show he’s listening, but keeps focusing on the trap. Tommy continues, “Why don’t I go into town and-”

“No, Tommy.” Wilbur cuts him off with a huff. 

Tommy pulls the basket in front of his chest. “What? Why? I’m fine see,” he puts down his basket and starts climbing a low tree. “Would an injured person be able to do this?” He clings to an extended branch upside down and tilts his head back to smile at his brother.

“God, Tommy get down from there! You may be feeling better but you definitely shouldn’t push your luck.” Wilbur lectures him and picks up the boys basket, holding it out for him.

“Sorry Wil, I just really miss Tubbo. He’s probably worried! Please Wilbur?” He climbs down, more carefully than he went up. “I’ll be so careful I won’t make anyone annoyed with me.” He takes the basket from Wilbur and then follows behind him gingerly as they go to the next trap. 

“You’re not annoying Toms.” The blonde stops for a minute, surprised to hear Wilbur say that. “Don’t think it was your fault you got attacked. It’s the people who hurt a child who are the ones at fault. Not you for trying to find your brother.” Wilbur turns to him. “Techno’s going back out for more work tomorrow. If you can walk all the way in town with him without feeling dizzy or anything bad, you can stay out for the day.” 

“Yes! Victory for Tommyinn-” He throws his arms up, and is about to mimic a crowd cheering when Wilbur interrupts. 

“If Techno has any reason to think you might collapse he will drag you all the way back here. You’ve been warned.” He puts Tommy’s arms down gently and smiles. 

“I’m fine Wil, I promise.” He laughs. 

“I know Toms, it’s just hard to let you be alone out there.” His brother sighs, and crouches down at the next trap. “I know how much you miss it though. Plus, I only told the newsman you’d be out a week. Wouldn’t want you to lose that job.” 

“I’m so excited, I’ll go start the fire okay?” He starts to run back when Wilbur grabs his shirt and yanks him backwards. Tommy seizes and tries to bite back a whimper when it reminds him of the man throwing him down. 

Wilbur notices. “I’m sorry, I-I’ll tap you next time?” 

Tommy’s heart is beating very quickly now, the events coming back to the front of his mind. He whimpers again and buries his face in Wilburs chest. He feels his brother lean down slightly to hold him back.

“I’m f-fine Wil, it’s okay.” He stutters out, trying to reassure his older brother it wasn’t his fault. 

Wilbur starts to sway, still holding him in the woods. “You’re not, but thats okay.” 

Tommy thinks he’s really spent too much time in these woods because he’s finding it really hard to let go. He doesn’t want to hurt anymore. He doesn’t want to be scared, but he is. 

He never had parents, unlike Wilbur and Techno. So until they ran away no one had ever cared about him. Even then moments like this where he felt safe were few and far between. He sobs harder into Wilbur. 

“I’m sorry Toms, I wasn’t thinking I just needed to stop you to tell you to walk. I didn’t-” He puts his hands on Tommy's shoulders and looks him in his teary eyes. “Look, this trap is empty, wait here and we’ll go start dinner together okay?” 

Tommy wipes his eyes and stays right where Wilbur left him. Occasionally sniffling. 

Wilbur walks back over and takes Tommy's free hand in his, swinging it between them trying to get Tommy to smile again. 

The blond giggles and if it weren’t for the tears still stinging his face, he’d forget it ever happened. 

They take a pot of water over by the river, Wilbur cleans the rabbit while Techno starts a small fire beneath it. It’s getting cold enough now that there’s chunks of ice flowing through the river. Tommy is grateful it flows rapidly by their house, because that makes it never completely freeze over. 

Techno hums when he successfully starts a fire and Tommy crouches next to him to add more sticks. It’s past noon when they add the rabbit, but they always cooked with fire earlier in the day. Techno said it’s because people wouldn’t worry about the smoke as much. 

“Wilbur?” He smiles up at him. Wilbur looks up from his work and blinks at Tommy.

“Yes?” 

“Thank you for earlier, I know I’m not… easy to take care of.” The young boy smiles up at him before running off to get more sticks. He feels embarrassed about crying earlier so he hopes Wilbur doesn’t ask him to explain. The blonde isn’t worried anymore after he sees Wilbur’s eyes go soft and he looks away once again. 

“It’s no problem Tommy. Not to me, not if it’s you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter is also Tommy's pov, and if you got the reference in the last line: sorry about the heartbreak. 


	5. Call it Courage

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tommy scrunches his nose in distaste. “I wouldn’t want to leave either of you ever!” 
> 
> Techno laughs softly. “Wilbur would love to hear that he won’t have you disappearing like me when you're older.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry for the wait! I was very distracted by school starting tomorrow. 
> 
> Cigarettes are mentioned in this chapter but only one line.

Tommy giggles as Wilbur fusses over his clothes. Techno finishes packing a small bag for his trip to the mountains past town. Tommy didn’t like him leaving so much, but he knew it was what Techno wanted to do. He knew Techno left the orphanage to be free to go wherever in life. 

He also knew neither of them planned to live in a questionably stable shed with a 10 year old boy to look after but here he was. He always tried to stay positive, but he wasn’t oblivious to how his brothers feel. 

Wilbur puts a cap over his messy blonde hair and Tommy smiles at how happy Wilbur looks. 

“Remember what I said, Techno.” Wilbur warns. 

Techno pretends to be nonchalant and fake yawns. “Yeah, yeah, Toms passes out. I bring him back. If he seems fine, I let him run around town so you get a break” He teases the younger boy. 

Wilbur sighs, and steps back from straightening Tommy’s suspenders. “Alright, I’ll see you both soon.”

Tommy grabs a basket and waits for Techno by the path while the older two talk. 

Techno readjusts his travel bag and they start walking towards town. Tommy walks ahead of him slightly, excited to finally be out of the woods. 

“Slow down Toms c’mon. I know you miss town but it’s not going anywhere.” 

Tommy slows down. “What? I thought you were excited to leave that forest too?”

“You know I am, and I know you are, but I’m leaving for a few days so we should talk.” He swings his arm around Tommy’s shoulder, having to lean down very far to reach the ten year old’s shoulders. “I always miss you, you know.”

“If you miss me so much, why don’t you stay intown? I’m sure someone would hire you.” 

Tommy watches his brother look straight ahead. “Well, you know how Wil likes staying in the forest?” 

“Yeah…”

“And you know how you like to be in town?”

Tommy nods, unsure where his brother was going with this. “Yeah?”

“Well I don’t like the forest or the town. I’m not happy with anything unless I’m free.” He smiles at Tommy. “I like knowing that no matter how far I go, you two will always be there when I’m back.”

Tommy scrunches his nose in distaste. “I wouldn’t want to leave either of you ever!” 

Techno laughs softly. “Wilbur would love to hear that he won’t have you disappearing like me when you're older.”

They reach the town and Tommy takes a deep breath at the sight of people other than his brothers. He missed the crowded buildings and stone streets. Before he can go and find the man who will let him sell newspapers, he has to get Techno's seal of ‘I’m not gonna pass out’ approval.

“Well…?” The blonde questions.

“Well… I think you’re going to be fine today, just take it easy for Wil’s sake. And go tell Phil thanks for saving you.” He laughs and starts walking away. 

Tommy always wondered how Techno was so sure on where he was headed. He didn’t have any kind of map that the boy could see, he just seemed to know.  
He hopes one day he could walk into uncertainty with the confidence of his brother. He knows they aren’t really related, but he can’t help but realize he’s adopted traits from both of them over time. 

Wilbur taught him about being grateful for all the little things in life, to be happy with who he was becoming and keep pushing to be better. Techno helped him understand that the world was big, bigger than any problem, bigger than him and his brothers. That you’ll never be able to face the world till you start within yourself. 

One thing he hadn’t picked up from them is their general distaste for talking to people outside of their family. Though his older brothers were both very interesting people, Tommy always hoped he’d never get their attitude towards others. He’d find it very boring if he didn’t interact with new people everyday.

He turns another corner and shakes hands with the man who owns the newspaper printer. He tries to suppress a sigh when he sees some of the ink from the man's stained hands was now on his. 

“Jim, Guess who’s back?” 

“Your brother finally let you out of home-jail huh? Took ya almost the full week he told me you’d be out for you to convince him.” The man teases.

“He was really worried, okay? I didn’t want to be home that long either!” He huffs and holds his arms out for Jim to put a stack of newspapers into. 

“You know the routine, but in case you forgot; money by tomorrow.” He ruffles Tommy’s blonde hair until it's a mess. 

He cringes thinking about what Wilbur would say if he saw someone mess up his hair. “I know, it’s been a week not a year. I’m almost 11 and I can remember everything now.” He puts the newspapers in his basket and walks to the door, opening it with his unoccupied hand. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Tommy notices the sky has been slowly getting cloudier as he continues to sell newspapers down each street. Stopping to talk with many familiar faces and answering questions about where he’s been. 

He’s tapped on the shoulder and turns around while taking a deep breath, prepared to talk about the news yet another time this morning. 

He’s greeted with one of Tubbo’s older brothers, Sapnap. With his familiar headband holding back his dark hair like usual. “Sapnap! How are you?”  
“I’m better now that I know you’re still kicking. Dude, you scared us! Maybe give us a ring next time you get grounded or whatever.” 

Tommy wasn’t sure he was allowed to tell people he didn’t have a house phone… or a house. So he just laughed it off. “Yeah, sorry. I fell and hurt my head pretty badly, Wilbur didn’t want me to pass out so I stayed home for a bit.”

“Never heard of someone’s brother grounding them but hey, first time for everything right?” Sapnap laughs and hands him a dime. “For the paper. I’m glad you're better, come visit soon yeah? Eret and Tubbo have been busy with some kind of castle in the backyard. I’m sure they’d like your opinions.”

“Tell them soon, I’ve got something to do this afternoon.” Tommy was going to go thank Phil like Techno recommended. He owes the bookstore owner that at least. 

“Alright, I’ll go tell them you’re alive and you know where we’ll be. Just make sure to come after school. Or you’ll be stuck talking with my mom again.” 

“I like talking with May, but noted.” Sapnap waves and starts to walk away, flipping through the newspaper as he walks. 

Tommy starts heading to the other side of town where (hopefully) Phil would be working in the store and not closed for the day. He sells the rest of his newspapers on the way, which wasn’t surprising since he was handed so few. 

The clouds were growing closer together, Tommy walked a little faster to try and beat the oncoming shower. He hoped it would just be a quick afternoon rain.

“Mr. Phil?” Tommy pokes his head into the book store and calls.

“Tommy? How are you doing? Come in before the rain.” He sets down the box of books and sits in a chair behind the desk. Tommy sets his basket on the counter before resting his chin on top of his folded arms. 

“I feel better now, I came to say thank you for saving me. Techno wanted me to say thank you for him too!” 

They both turn to smile at the new customer when they hear the jingle of the door opening before Phil continues the conversation. “What about Wilbur? How’s he?”

“Well I’m sure Wil’s thankful too, he’s probably just um- embarrassed? I think he’s too busy being upset that he wasn’t there for me…” Tommy lulls his head to one side and starts fiddling with his sleeve. 

“He’ll come around I’m sure. He’s just worried about you like a brother should. I hope you told him thank you too.” Phil tries to cheer him up a bit by being the second person today to mess up his hair. 

“I did! Well, sort of.” He looks at the box of unsorted books and quickly changes topics. “Can I help you sort those? Please?” 

“Well I’m not going to pass up free help. Come over here and I’ll teach you how.” 

The pair walk over to the shelf in the back corner and Tommy picks up a soft paper book. Then looking up at Phil for an explanation.

“They’re sorted by title in this section. What’s the book name?”

Tommy freezes, he almost regrets being such a devil about school that they stopped making him try. Because right now it’d be really helpful if he could read. 

“I- uh- cah? Cah-la?”

Phil steps beside him and takes the book from him gently. “Call is that first word. Do you know the next one?”

It’s two letters long and Tommy still doesn’t know. “I-I don’t know how to.” 

Phil pauses for a moment, Tommy wonders if he is realizing that maybe a kid who lives in the woods doesn’t go to school, and therefore does not thrive well in a bookstore. 

“Th-that’s okay Toms, it’s okay. This book is titled ‘Call it Courage’” He reads it slowly, pointing to each word. 

“I’m sorry.” 

“You don’t need to be sorry, we can turn this into a teaching experience. We’ll read the titles together and then you can sort them.” He hands the book back to the boy and they walk over to a shelf labeled ‘Kids non-fiction A-E’ 

Phil makes a space and Tommy reaches up to put it on the shelf. 

They continue like that for a while, Phil occasionally going to ring up someone’s books or when they both stopped to have lunch. 

Tommy is about to pick up another book, when someone with a large dog walks in. He wasn’t a big fan of dogs, and has had too many encounters with mean ones on the street to be comfortable with this situation. He hides behind Phil and grabs his arm. 

“The dog is on a leash Tommy, it can't get you.” Phil tries to step away from his grip so they can put away the final few books. 

Tommy looks up ready to try and ignore the dog but he immediately makes eye contact with the animal and buries his face in the adult’s arm. He really wishes bookstores had a no pets policy. 

Phil detaches himself from Tommy, much to his dismay. “I’ll finish up here, do you want to start heading home before the rain?” 

It was only 3pm, he didn’t want to be back in the woods so soon. “Can I go to your apartment and leave after the rain?” 

“Sure, but leave the door open so we can listen for customers. I’ll come up there when the store is empty.”

Tommy nods, waits for the dog to be in the opposite corner of the stairs and books it to the red apartment door. Leaving the door open behind him felt strange, Wilbur would scold him when he left their door open at the orphanage.

He’s not a big fan of Phil’s interior design choices, but their house didn’t even have furniture. So really who was he to judge? 

He sits on the plaid carpet and opens one of the coffee table drawers. Looking for a game. He pushes a pack of cigarettes aside and pulls out a checkerboard and a small bag of pieces. 

After he figures out how to turn on the radio, he sets the boardgame up. Checkers was the only one he really knew how to play. Techno would try to teach him chess but he never could get all the rules right. 

So they stuck to checkers. Before they left, whenever one of them was hesitant to talk about what was bothering them, they’d go downstairs and pull out an old checker board and talk while they played. 

It always helped Tommy figure out what he needed to say if his hands were busy. When Techno started getting upset over school he’d watch Wilbur smuggle a card game up to the older kid’s rooms. 

So he uses it now, he plays a few games of checkers to distract himself from the dog downstairs. He lays on his side and moves the black and red pieces around, flipping them when they reach the end. 

The rain starts to pour in sheets. Tommy gets up off the rug to go look out the window. The bookstore overlooks the street where he can see the roads begin to flood with the heavy rain. He leans on the windowsill and watches it for a while, his nose fogging the window from where he has it boredly pressed against the glass.

He gets really worried when he starts to hear thunder. It was already 5pm. Phil would be closing the store in an hour. He really didn’t want to walk home in a thunderstorm. 

He especially didn’t want to sleep in the woods in a thunderstorm. The roof always leaked, and it's already so cold that he knows all that water would turn to ice very quickly. 

Deciding that walking back in this was something he had to do, he thought it was better to go through a storm than have Wilbur assume the worst and never let him in town alone again. 

He drags his feet over to the board game left on the floor, and starts to put each of the pieces back in the bag. He pauses when he hears the stairs creak, turning around to greet Phil once again. 

“The rain’s bad Toms, I don’t think you’ll be able to get back home yet.”

“I have to or Wilbur’s gonna be worried about me. I’d rather walk home in the rain than have him out in this looking for me.” He continues to put away the pieces and folds the board. 

“I can’t let you out in this, you’re a kid, it's dangerous. If it let’s up later we’ll walk back together again.” He can tell by the tone Phil actually feels bad for not letting him leave. So Tommy pushes the table drawer closed and doesn’t argue. 

Besides, sleeping in an actual house during a heavy storm sounded very nice. It might be worth the lecture he’d get from Wilbur when he returned in the morning. 

Both of them were sitting on the couch, with the first book Tommy had picked up earlier, ‘Call it Courage’ and they are switching off who reads each paragraph.  
At first it was difficult stumbling over almost every word, but when he got to sit back and listen to Phil read his paragraph, he knew that being able to read on his own would be worth it. 

The boy in the story was afraid of the sea because he saw his mom fall victim to it. Tommy thinks he’d be scared of the sea too if he saw it, especially since he knows it could swallow him whole. He thinks he’ll stick to the river. 

They hear more thunder roll by and Phil closes the book as Tommy watches the lightning flash through the curtains. Tommy was nervous about how loud the wind sounded. 

“Are you sure you don’t want me to light a candle while you cook? What if the power goes out- and you’re trying to see the pan in the dark? What then Phil?” He’s sitting at the kitchen table now, up on his knees with both hands lifting him up so he was leaning over it precariously. 

“There’s a candle in that cabinet,” Phil stops what he’s cooking to point to the drawer closest to Tommy. “If you get me one i’ll light it and well keep it in the middle of the table yeah?” 

He picks out one after smelling all of them twice, and by that time Phil is already done with the food. Tommy walks it over to the stove carefully since it’s glass and the bookstore owner trades him the candle for a bowl of soup. 

They eat and talk about the story they were reading and the whole time the rain doesn’t let up once. The wind is so aggressive Tommy stops mid rant to worry about Wilbur alone out there. 

Phil notices and carries both their bowls to the sink. Leaving them for morning before grabbing the candle and turning to Tommy. “I have a guest room, you can sleep there and leave first thing okay? I can’t let you have a candle because that’d be a fire hazard.” He pauses to laugh at his own joke. “I’ll open the curtains so you won’t need a candle. Streetlights are enough.” 

Tommy nods, the storm really wasn’t letting up and it was getting late. Maybe Wilbur will assume he went to Tubbo’s house. He pours a glass of water and follows Phil through a door in the living room. 

The room is small, much like the rest of the apartment and has a double bed in between two bedside tables. The wood floor is cold beneath him so while Phil fixes the curtains and sets down his water and climbs under the covers. 

“See the door to your left? That’s the bathroom and through there is my room. The storm should be over soon but if you need me that’s where I am.” 

“Goodnight.” He’s sitting up in the bed, holding the blanket close to him while he watches Phil turn out the lights. 

“Goodnight Toms, I hope Wil’s okay out there.”

While Tommy sleeps, Wilbur doesn’t.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for your comments they are really helpful. The reason I finished this was from someone very politely asking if I planned to update. I had gotten so caught up writing one-shots and a background info sheet for this I had completely neglected the actual story! 
> 
> My tumblr will have a background post and hopefully soon a rec list of every family dynamic fanfic I can find so if you're interested its @c4pricornc4ts


	6. Out of Options

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Every time Tommy goes out into town, and every time Techno leaves for a trip he can’t help but be taken right back to the moment he realized how cold it was on those front steps. 
> 
> He was tired of being abandoned. He knows they’ll fight tooth and nail to come home, but even 7 years later he still has nightmares of his mom leaving him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back! Sorry for such a long wait, I am finally settling into school routine so hopefully that will not happen again.

Wilbur could smell the rain before the clouds even came over the sky. He recognized the feeling of warm moldy air filling his lungs before a bad storm. The same way the cold settles on his skin before the sun starts to set. 

Now he understood what Techno meant all those nights where he’d return early telling Wilbur it was going to storm. 

When they’d all three go on walks together, he and Techno would always sense when the daylight was scarce. They’d nod to each other and tell Tommy they needed to get home. To which Tommy would respond by being shocked and complaining he can’t tell when the sun was going down. 

Wilbur was the most comfortable in the woods. He spent the beginning of his life trapped in an apartment with a mom balancing two jobs and a divorce. He always wanted to crack the door so he could just fall out. 

When she left him in front of the orphanage in the middle of the coldest January of his life, he never felt so free yet so suffocated. 

Even though he was eight, he knew his mother always resented him. He could hear her complaining to her friends on the phone when it was past his bedtime, he saw the way she glared at him when she thought he wasn’t paying attention to his surroundings. She blamed him for his father leaving. 

He didn’t know she was planning to leave him. 

Every time Tommy goes out into town, and every time Techno leaves for a trip he can’t help but be taken right back to the moment he realized how cold it was on those front steps. 

He was tired of being abandoned. He knows they’ll fight tooth and nail to come home, but even 7 years later he still has nightmares of his mom leaving him. 

He doesn’t like to talk to anyone but his brothers, preferring to work on his own projects in the woods. Afraid of loving someone else just to be left once again.

Sometimes when he goes to retrieve Tommy from Tubbo’s house and his older brothers tell him he should stay and hang out with them he almost says yes. He knows not having friends will hurt him one day. 

Maybe he’ll say yes next time. Till then, he has enough to worry about.

He wipes the sweat off his forehead and sets down his tools inside the shed. He’s shrugging off his jacket when it starts to pour.

It was one of those storms that didn’t start with a drizzle. It fell all at once. The wind picked up quickly and Wilbur could see the ceiling start to drip. 

He sighs and puts a bucket under the crack in the roof. He knew the roof leaking already was a bad sign, but even worse was the fact Tommy wasn’t back yet. 

It was around 9, the sun hadn’t completely set but the dark clouds made it feel like midnight. 

Wilbur props his pillow up and sits against the wall. Partly watching the leak, mostly watching the door. 

Of course the first time he let’s Tommy out on his own again is the day it decides to storm. Not to mention that Techno might be caught in this.

He starts to understand why his mom couldn’t raise him anymore. Worrying about his brothers constantly makes him realize how exhausted she must’ve been. 

He was grateful he didn’t worry anyone anymore. The last thing Wilbur ever wanted was to burden anyone else. 

Sometimes he just wants to sit Tommy down and tell him that he needs to be careful with who he lets in his life. That he doesn’t think his heart could take seeing Tommy get betrayed by someone he trusted. 

He snaps out of his sadness when the leak in the roof caves in and water starts rushing in, flooding the shed. 

“God dammit.” he mutters before getting up and grabbing clothes out of their basket and anything important off the shelves. 

Techno always told them to never grow attached to more than one item. It would only hinder them. Especially when running away. 

Techno wanted to take his red fur coat. It was too big to feasibly bring with them so Wilbur grabbed some fabric scissors and carefully cut off a small square and handed it to him the night before they planned to leave. 

Tommy was thankfully never much of a material kid, whether that was because he learned everything gets taken or if he just values people more, the brunette didn’t know. He ended up just taking a broken disc turned into an ornament. 

Those who don’t know Tommy would find it a very strange choice, but Wilbur and Techno knew how much Tommy loved decorating for Christmas. They were the ones who would pick him up just so he could have the tallest ornament. 

Wilbur however grew attached to objects very quickly. So picking just one thing to pack when they left took him the longest. He didn’t really have anything that he’d want to take. He was leaving everything behind for his family, because they mattered more than any keepsake. 

He decided he wouldn’t bring anything of his. Rather, while Techno was in another boring meeting he dug through the owner’s file cabinet and took Tommy’s birth certificate and tucked it away in the same, small leather folder where he keeps his songs. 

The teen knows this doesn’t mean he’s officially adopted Tommy, but having his records made Wilbur feel more prepared to take responsibility for him. 

He pauses on his way out the office and considers taking his and Techno's as well, but he decides it’s not worth the risk of being caught. They’d be adults soon enough. 

Even though Tommy didn’t like going to school, Wilbur wasn’t about to let him quit before even finishing elementary. Once they could find an apartment, he could get Tommy enrolled in a different school where he could have a clean start. Preferably the one Tubbo was in. 

He hoped they wouldn’t look too closely into Tommy’s records and if they did, Wilbur would find another school for the boy. For now all he can do is take Tommy’s records and hope he’s making the right decision. 

Wilbur sees the wall with their shelves start to lean and he rushes to grab the leather folder. The disc and coat were thrown in too but not before Wilbur was sure Tommy’s official records would be safe. 

He concluded the shed was only going to get worse, and as of right now, the water was rushing around Wilbur’s work boots. Only when he thought that the snow was the worst of his problems, now their house was crumbling. 

Wilbur felt like he was out of options. He stumbles back when the wall leans dangerously and the roof tries to go with it. 

He throws a coat over his bag and takes a deep breath before heading out in the rain to find Tommy. 

He wastes no time standing around in the downpour, and keeps his head down as he heads down the familiar path towards town. 

The rain is already soaked through his thin coat, he’s numb to the cold with adrenaline now but he knew he was gonna seriously regret this later. 

The forest is dark, the occasional flashes of lightning being the only reassurance that Wilbur is staying on the path. 

He hated the cold, he hated how cold he’s gonna be wherever he and Tommy end up after this ridiculous beginning to his night.

Hopefully, Tommy went to Tubbo’s house and that's why he didn’t come home earlier. 

Though, it would be very hard for Wilbur to explain to a family who thinks they have parents and a home why he’d come to collect Tommy without an umbrella and a bag. 

The bookstore was closer, and Phil would be a lot more understanding. Wil decides that’s a better place to ask about his brother first and takes a sharp right once he reaches the first buildings in the town. 

He’s rushing through the abandoned stone streets, trying to avoid the rain however possible. He really hopes Tommy was with someone and not out cold in some alleyway again. 

Tommy was a trouble magnet, his extroverted and inquisitive personality always had him running his mouth all over town. Chaos attracted chaos, Wilbur supposed. 

He sees the weathered bookstore sign and raps against the wooden part firmly.

“Phil? It’s Wilbur, Tommy’s brother.” He calls from outside, hoping he wasn’t already asleep. 

He bounces nervously and waits for a reply, hoping he was louder than the rain. He wasn’t sure how soundproof the apartments on this side of town were. 

He huffs in frustration after a few minutes and begins to knock again, as aggressively as he could. The tired boy would apologize for his rudeness later, for now he had a pretty damn good reason to be impolite. 

He knows there isn’t much he wouldn’t do to keep his brothers safe. They only had each other, if he didn’t look out for Techno and Tommy, no one would. 

If they ever went truly missing, no one would recognize them anyways. No one would care besides the trio. 

He’s shivering half from how cold it is, and half at the thought of never seeing his family again when he sees Phil turning his keys and unlocking the shop door. 

“Wil? What’s wrong? Come in I’ll go wake Tommy.” He steps aside quickly to let Wilbur in and locks the door back behind them. 

Hearing the last part of Phil’s words, Wilbur immediately relaxes. The adrenaline is wearing off now that he’s safe and he starts to realize just how pathetic he must look right now. 

“No. Don’t- don’t wake Tommy, please.” He stutters out, which stops Phil on the back steps. 

“Alright, we have to be quiet then. The guest room is just off the living room.” He disappears upstairs, hopefully to find Wilbur some dry clothes. 

The shivering boy takes a deep breath before walking up the stairs as well. Hoping for somewhere to just sit and figure out what all just happened. 

He doesn’t see Phil anywhere so he goes into the kitchen and makes sure the contents of his bag weren’t destroyed. Pulling everything out, the extra clothes and the keepsakes, and lays them down on the small wooden table. 

Everything was dry. Thankfully, he hangs his bag up to let it dry and grabs himself a change of clothes. 

Phil tosses him a towel and points him towards the bathroom to get dried off. 

After he’s changed and attempted to sort out his hair, he leaves his wet clothes in the tub since they wouldn’t get any drier on the clothesline right now. He hopes Phil wouldn’t mind. 

He heads back out, the towel still draped across his shoulders like a blanket. He steps into the kitchen to see Phil ladling soup into a white bowl. 

“Sit, I reheated dinner. You need to warm up.” He pours him a glass of water as well and sets it in front of him before sitting on the other side of the table. 

“Thank you, sorry about all of this. He didn’t tell me he’d be staying with anyone and you-”

“There’s no need to be sorry Wil, I told you this doesn’t bother me.” He laughs slightly, trying to help Wilbur feel more at ease no doubt. 

He takes another spoonful before answering. “It’s still rude of us. To keep bothering you like this.” He insists weakly, tired of this night already. 

“Tommy was helping me, he came to thank me. Wasn’t expecting that from a child, but talking to you makes me see where he must get it from.

Wilbur smiles at the compliment, and looks down at his bowl. “He really is a polite kid, even when he’s pretending to be obnoxious. I’m glad you noticed that about him, not many do.”

“Why don’t you want me to wake him? He’s worried about you.” 

“The shed was collapsing, I don’t want him asking about why I brought a bag of our items till morning.” 

“Are you okay? Where’s Techno?” Wilbur sets down the spoon, his appetite is gone.

“He’s in the mountains, he helps the farmers out there. It-It was just me.” He rests his cheek on his hand. “And it's still just me trying to figure out how to handle this.” 

“I’ll help you Wil, you know I’ll watch Tommy, and the guest room is always open.” He stands up to collect the dishes out from a barely tired Wilbur. Who barely noticed the bowl was gone.

“It’s really bad Phil, even if we did try to sleep in it, the blankets and pillows are definitely irreparable. It was always a temporary house. We knew it would give out eventually, just thought we’d already have our own place by then.” 

“Stay here then Wil. You can work for me, Tommy can learn to read and Techno can come in whenever he’s back. We’ll fill him in on what happened together. You don’t have to be alone.” 

“Just till we have enough money, we won’t intrude for longer than we have to.” 

“You’re no bother, I need the help around the store anyways. Besides, it’s too quiet in here.” He closes the door to the ice box and turns to him. “For now, the only other decision you need to make is whether you’re sleeping in the room with Tommy or the couch.” 

“Thank you, Phil.” 

With that, they go to their separate ways for the night. He opens the guest room door as quietly as he could, to see Tommy completely oblivious to anything that had happened tonight. 

The storm had calmed down considerably, only the wind remained when Wilbur finally slept.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading, you can message me on tumblr:@c4pricornc4ts (I will also answer asks and any prompts.) <3


	7. I feel like something's always happening

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The sky was gray and heavy with snow that day but Tommy didn’t really care. He just sat against the trunk of a fir tree and laughed with his brothers. It doesn't take long for Techno and Tommy start fighting with the utensils until an exasperated Wilbur breaks them up. 
> 
> For a moment, Tommy thinks he’s actually upset. But Wilbur’s laughing at how guilty they both look.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, an update? Those are rare.

Tommy wakes up first, he sits up and yawns before jumping a bit when he notices someone else sleeping next to him. He crawls over to the body and sees what he’s pretty sure is his older brother’s messy brown hair. Just to be sure however, he pushes the other person's hair out of their face and turns their head towards him.

He jumps a little when Wilbur wakes up from the sudden disturbance and sits up on the bed. Tommy thinks he should have a lot of questions about why Wilbur ended up here too, but he can’t think of any right now. “Wilbur?” 

The older boy blinks and runs his hand through his hair tiredly. Wilbur never really was a morning person like Tommy and Techno, but Tommy was feeling pretty patient this morning so he just sits criss-cross on top of the covers and waits for his brother to say something. 

“We need to talk Tommy, I want to explain what’s happening before we leave this room and see Phil.” 

“What do you mean ‘what’s happening’ Wilbur? I feel like something’s always happening.” He mumbles and looks at his hands. 

Wilbur goes on to explain about the shed and how he spoke with Phil last night and arranged for them to stay here. Tommy leans back a bit, trying to take the new information in. 

“What about Techno? How will he know we're here?” Techno had just left that morning, Tommy didn’t want him to think they left him out in the cold. 

“We’re gonna go back to the woods and collect everything we can. You'll leave him a note and if we see any of his friends we'll tell them too. He’ll find us Tommy.” Tommy watches from his spot on the bed as Wilbur gets up, unsure if Wilbur wants him to follow. 

He squeaks when Wilbur locks his arms under Tommy’s shoulders and lifts him up off the bed. “Come on now, let’s go help with breakfast.” 

“What was that for?” He questions while trying to get his balance back from the sudden movement. Wilbur laughs before walking out the room. Neither of them had changed from their casual clothes, Tommy hoped Wilbur had been able to bring their outfits. 

Their door opens to the living room where they see Phil already up and reading the paper. He quickly sets it down and stands up off the, in Tommy's opinion, ugly floral couch. 

He worries that they had slept in late, but the living room clock says it's 7am. Phil must have to open the shop soon. 

The boy climbs up on the unoccupied side of the couch and tucks himself in the corner tiredly. He closes his eyes as Wilbur and Phil talk about their plans to go back to the woods today.

He can't be bothered to listen to them, instead he just leans into Wilbur when he sits in-between him and Phil and starts running his hands through his hair.

Though he's worried about Techno, he doesn't quite mind the shed itself being destroyed. Phil's house was nicer. Not that he would tell Wilbur and Techno that. 

He feels the couch shift as Wilbur stands up. He's taken by surprise when he's suddenly lifted off the couch and carried to the kitchen.

"Wilbur!" He shouted, surprised to be getting tossed around yet again so early in the morning. 

He's set down at the kitchen table, facing the oven where he sees Wilbur open the top cabinet and pull out some bread and jam. Tommy considers going to help him but he's still waking up and the cold feeling of the kitchen table was way too nice on his face to leave. 

So he just presses his cheek against the table and watches Wilbur put the bread in the oven and walk over to him and set the jam down on the table. 

It was a fairly well kept kitchen, especially for a single person to have been keeping up with. It had red counter-tops and white cabinets. It definitely matched the living room.Tommy thinks if he had a house it'd have more pastel colors. All the dark colors and patterns hurt his head a bit. 

"You okay there Tommy?" Phil asks, coming into the kitchen and setting down the newspaper. 

"I'm just sleepy still." he mumbles against the table tile. 

"You're usually so energetic in the mornings." Wilbur says before coming over to him and putting a hand on his forehead. 

Tommy guesses that with the way Wilbur seems more relaxed after checking his temperature, that he doesn't have a fever. 

"So the one time I'm not yelling by seven I'm sick?" He laughs and Wilbur smiles too before pulling the toast out the oven. 

Phil puts on his shoes and adjusts his outfit. "Alright, I got a store to go open. See you both in a few!" 

"Okay, we'll be down in a moment." Wilbur says and Tommy just waves as Phil heads down the stairs. 

A slice of bread cut in two triangles is placed in front of him and Wilbur starts putting jam on it. 

"I took what was important already. We're just going to see what else is salvageable. And you can leave a letter for Techno okay?"

"Wilbur." He says very seriously as he picks up one of the jam covered triangles. 

"What is it Tommy?"

"I can't write the letter. I’m ten how do you expect me to- to just-" 

He struggles to explain. His face feels hot, he is upset that he can't write it himself because of course he wants to be the one to write the letter for his brother but Wilbur seems to have forgotten he can't. 

To his surprise, Wilbur starts laughing. His shoulders shaking and his curls bouncing. Tommy tilts his head, not really sure what's so funny.

"Toms, I know you can't write yet. It's okay. I'm gonna write what you say to him plus the important stuff like the address. There's no need to be upset." 

"Oh, that's a good idea. I like that." With that resolved, Tommy finally starts eating his toast.

\-------------

They're on the way to the shed, Tommy kicking the pebbles on the path and gripping the coat Phil gave him tightly. It was November now, Thanksgiving was a week away. 

Tommy didn’t miss much about the orphanage, but he really loved celebrating the holidays with such a big group of people. He regards last year’s Thanksgiving as his favorite since it was the first one since befriending his now older brothers. 

He remembers getting upset and insisting he sat with the older kids to the point Wilbur and Techno just snuck away and sat outside with him instead. 

The sky was gray and heavy with snow that day but Tommy didn’t really care. He just sat against the trunk of a fir tree and laughed with his brothers. It doesn't take long for Techno and Tommy start fighting with the utensils until an exasperated Wilbur breaks them up. 

For a moment, Tommy thinks he’s actually upset. But Wilbur’s laughing at how guilty they both look. 

Wilbur always seemed to get sad in the cold. He had gotten better with it now that they lived outside, but he never was fond of playing in the snow like Tommy was. So it's no surprise that after Wilbur breaks them up they’re walking back inside to join the other kids. He and Techno stayed in the common area while Wilbur went to his room, mumbling some excuse about needing to write an essay for history. 

Tommy wished Wilbur knew that he didn’t have to lie about wanting to be alone. 

He hoped Phil celebrated Thanksgiving too. Maybe he’d ask when they were back to the bookstore. “Wilbur? Is it rude to ask someone if they do Thanksgiving?” He feels nervous to bring it up, but he might as well make sure he won’t embarrass himself asking Phil. He'd understand if they weren't, no one in America was really having the best circumstances right now. 

“What- no Toms almost everyone does. Even if they don’t have a lot of food to cook.”

“Is that why there’s so many signs about it everywhere?” 

“Yeah, you’ll be seeing headlines about it in those papers of yours before you know it with it being so soon.” 

Tommy nods, and they both stop walking when they see the half destroyed shed before them. The river is still rushing beside it, the fire pit of rocks Tommy and Techno worked so hard on remained unharmed as well. 

The world around the shed would make you think nothing ever happened at all. Tommy could see the remains of the shed, but he had a hard time feeling upset. Perhaps since he hadn’t seen it fall. 

However when he sees the troubled look on Wilbur’s face, he realizes how bad this must’ve been for him. Having to decide what to take while the place itself is collapsing would be a hard choice for Tommy. He thinks he would’ve taken something replaceable like their coats. 

To be fair, the documents and other things Wilbur was smart enough to take with him to Phil’s were on a shelf Tommy couldn’t reach. So even if he had thought of it, he wouldn’t have been able to retrieve it in time. Especially with how little time his brother had to get out. 

He feels guilty about it but, he's grateful Wilbur was home alone instead of him, he couldn’t imagine how scared he would’ve felt if the shed had collapsed and he was the one who didn’t know where Wilbur was or what to do. 

Wilbur makes no move to start going through what’s salvageable, still just staring at the place. Tommy takes his hands out of the over-sized coat pockets and walks into what's left of the shed. 

The blankets and Pillows are all still wet, and dirtied from the water rushing on the ground. 

He picks up a smaller blanket, a blue one with a silky trim. The others were too large or damaged beyond what Techno’s sewing skills can repair. 

He takes the baby blanket in his arms, making sure his hands are covered by it. Before walking over to see what Wilbur was doing. 

“I think we can save this one.” He holds out the blanket for Wilbur to inspect. He feels a little hurt when Wilbur gives him no response but a nod before picking up a bucket and start walking away. 

“Wha- where are you going Wil?” He wraps the blanket around his shoulders before hurrying after him. There wasn’t much to get since there never was much to begin with, but Wilbur isn’t headed towards the bookstore. 

“I gotta reset the traps.” Wilbur tells him, his voice didn’t sound right. It sounded shaky like Tommy’s when he was trying not to cry. 

“Wilbur, are you sad?” He asks without thinking. He regrets it immediately when Wilbur stops in his tracks and takes a deep breath. 

He takes a deep breath too, copying his brother while looking up at him. His brother wasn’t looking back, his eyes were closed while he stood there, 

“No… not sad. Just- I don’t know. I feel a lot of things right now.” 

They keep walking. Tommy looks at the ground, trying to think of what to say. When he doesn’t know how he feels he just starts shouting till someone figures it out for him. Wilbur isn’t like that though. He doesn’t think yelling is what Wilbur needs to do. 

“Overwhelmed. That's how I feel. You were right earlier, it does seem like something's always happening to us huh?” Surprised by Wilbur’s voice, Tommy looks up to see Wilbur sitting fiddling with a ground trap. His coat hood is pulled up and it makes him seem so much smaller as he faced away from Tommy.

He plants himself down next to Wilbur and tentatively hands him the blanket. “Does this help?” He hopes it does, he sees Techno holding the blanket sometimes, especially when he's upset. 

He watches as Wilbur covers his mouth with one hand while the other just holds the blanket. “Yeah, I think it does.” 

Tommy lets Wilbur have his strange moment with the blanket before Wilbur’s draping it back over his shoulders as it had previously been and pulled Tommy into a hug. He hears Wilbur sniffle and tries to recall what his brothers do when he cries. 

“It’ll be okay. I’d feel overwhelmed too if I was the one alone in that storm.” 

Wilbur pulls away. “I’m glad you weren’t the one alone. I’m glad you have so many people- good people at that, looking out for you.” Tommy can tell he’s about to cry again by the way his lip trembles when he looks at him. 

“You have people looking out for you too. Techno and I are the greatest people! Plus Phil but I still think we’re better.” This earns a laugh from Wilbur. “Don’t tell him I said that though okay?” 

“Alright, your secret’s safe with me Toms.” Tommy smiles with relief to see Wilbur finally sound normal again. “Enough with these traps, let’s go write a letter to one of the greatest people.”

He accepts Wilbur's outstretched hand and lets himself be pulled up off the grass. “So, I think we need to start the letter with Dear second greatest person..."


End file.
